Annual Survey
Of Industries

The Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) is an
important survey of the CSO,MOS&PI and NSSO(FOD) conducts its field work
every year.

It is a statutory
surveyconducted every year, under
the provisions of theCollection of Statistics Act,
1953and rulesframed there
under in 1959 [in short COS Act].In respectofthe State ofJammu & Kashmir, the survey is
conducted under the provisions of J&K Collection of Statistics Act, 1961
(XXIII of 1961) and J&K Collection of Statistics Rules 1964.

The Deputy
Director General, NSSO (FOD), New Delhi has been appointed as the Statistics
Authority (SA) under Section 4 of the Act vide Govt. of India, Ministry of
Statistics & PI Notification No: SO 923(E)dated 12th August 2004.
The powers and functions of the SA are given in the COS Act. The SA is empowered
by the act to collect and authorize officials to collect information from any
industrial and commercial concern.The ASI provides data on
various vital aspects of the registered manufacturing sector for use in the
estimation of national income, studies of industrial structure and policy
formulation. It generates data on input, output, employment, wage bill, capital
formation etc., on an annual basis.

SAMPLING FRAME &
SELECTION OF UNITS

Thecoverage of ASIis finalized
during May-June with reference to the previous accounting year. The primary
source for preparation of frame (list of units) is the Chief Inspector of
Factories (CIF) and the Labour Commissioner in each State/ UT. Availability of a
reliable frame has critical implications on the efficiency of sampling design.
FOD has been updating the frame, by including new units which have come up &
removing units that have gone out of existence, based on the inputs received
from the concerned CIF and the Labour Commissioner. Non existing or non-
operational units are not considered for coverage in ASI.

The Frame for
ASI has undergone considerable changes from time to time, taking into account
the overall development of industrial sector. The Technical Group on Revision of
Frame of ASI under the Chairmanship of Prof. Arijit Chaudhuri, Indian
Statistical Institute, Kolkatarecommended a revised ASI Frame. Standing Committee on Industrial
Statistics (SCIS) in its 13th meeting accepted the recommendations of
the Technical Group andthe
revisedFrame for 2004-05 to
2008-09would be as under:

The
classification of the units in the frame into census and sample sectors should
be done in the beginning of the 5-year cyclei.e in ASI 2004-05 and it should not
be disturbed during the course of the cycle.

At
the end of the cycle ( i.e 2008-09 ) when the data onall the units in the frame become
available the frame should be updated a fresh and then the composition of
census and sample sector should be re-drafted.

In
respect of the new units getting registered each year of the last 4 years in
the 5-year cycle,( i.e starting from 2005-06 to 2008-09) a supplementary frame
has to be prepared for each year separately and units for coverage from the
supplementary frame of each year may be selected using the same criteria as
was applied to the main frame.

After completing the updating exercise, the
frame is sent to Central Statistical Organisation [CSO (IS Wing)] for selection
of the units to be surveyed in accordance with the sampling design prescribed
for the ASI. The list of selected units state-wise is then circulated to zonal offices of FOD which further
circulate concerned lists to Regional
offices of FOD.

The ASI frame for 2004-05 consisted of 197388
units registered under section 2m ( i ) and 2m ( ii )of Factories Act, 1948. These units are
divided into Operative and Non-Operative sets. The Operative units are taken up for
survey in ASI. ASI frame 2006-07 comprises ofASI frame 2005-06 and units registered
during 2006-07.

The following classification of unit is
adopted:

“Open “: Refers to those units which are found working.

“Closed” : Refers to those units which are in
existence but found closed for the reference year.

“NOP”:Non operative units : Refers to those
units which are found to be closed for the last 3 years.

The units under item 1 and 2 constitute the operative set,
ie. The frame from which selection of units for the survey is to be made.

Some tables based on the registered factories included in
the frame are derived as below:

Notices are issued by the SA to individual concerns and
the field staff authorized by the SA collect and/or verify information from the
concerns. The powers and duties of the persons engaged in ASI are as given under
the COS Act. These include power to enter premises and obtain copy of any
relevant document. They have to maintain secrecy and confidentiality as per the
provisions of the Act.

Under the COS Act, the SA has the power to sanction
prosecution of any defaulting unit under Sections 7 – 9 of the COS Act. SA may
also sanction prosecution of anyone who has access to the information collected
and misuses it in violation of any of the confidentiality and secrecy provisions
under Section 10 of the Act.

The SA has also authorized officials of NSSO
(FOD) and the Directorate of Economics & Statistics (DES) in 9 States of
Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh,
Uttaranchal,West Bengal ,
Maharashtra and Orissa to conduct ASI for the residual units ( i.e., those units
in the frame not covered by NSSO). The data collected through ASI is subject to
verification at various levels through field inspections and scrutiny of returns
in NSSO (FOD) and CSO (IS wing) and DES.

The survey period of ASI 2006-07 extends from
September 2007 to April 2008 with reference to thefinancial year 2006-07.About 72000 units are to be surveyed
under ASI during 2006-07in
accordance with the methodology and the formats for data collection finalised by
the Standing
Committee on Industrial Statistics (SCIS). The ASI return consists of two
parts, viz.,ASI Part- I &ASI
Part-II.
Part – I mainly covers information on capital, employment, emoluments, input
and output. Part - II mainly covers data on working days, man-days worked,
absenteeism and labour turnover.

ASI is a statutory survey and so the units/ entrepreneurs
are to submit the return along with Balance Sheet with in one month after the
receipt of notice failing which penalty provisions are attracted.

After the receipt of the filled-in return,
the field staff verifies the same, to check for any discrepancies. If the unit
is unable to fill up the details as asked for, they may contact the concerned
field office of NSSO (FOD) as mentioned in the Notice for guidance.In case any discrepancies are observed in the filled-in return, the field
staff of FOD makes a visit to the concerned unit to verify the return. The units
are to extend all cooperation to the person visiting with the purpose of
verifying the return.

Information
collected through ASI Part-I and ASI Part- II is then sent to the CSO and the
Labour Bureau respectively for processing and publication of results. Central
Statistical Organisation (CSO) brings out detailed reports after processing the
data.Labour Bureau also utilizes
the information on labour and employment collected via this survey. The
publications from Labour bureau can be accessed at www.labourbureau.nic.in .

Adequate details on the concepts and definitions and the
manner in which the ASI return is to be filled up are given in the memorandum
furnished along with the notice for guiding the concerns in filling up the
return. The field staff engaged in ASI are also thoroughly trained in the
methodology, concepts and definitions. In addition, the field staff make use of
ASI manual which elaborates on the concepts and procedures for conduct of
ASI.

The details of the records maintained in NSSO
(FOD) are given below.

Description

Form in which
maintained

Retention Period

Whether available to
public

Office where maintained

ASI Frame

Soft

5
years

Yes

FOD Hqrs (in respect of All India Level
Frame)

Zonal Office (in respect of the states under
its jurisdiction)

State Capital Regional offices (in respect of
State Level Frame)

Other Regional offices (in respect of
districts under their jurisdiction)

ASI Select list

Soft

1
year

Yes

FOD Hqrs (in respect of All India Level
)

Zonal Office (in respect of the states under
its jurisdiction)

State Capital Regional offices (in respect of
State Level)

Other Regional offices (in respect of
districts under their jurisdiction)

Office copies of ASI
returns

Hard

3
years

No

Regional offices and sub regional offices in
respect of districts under their
jurisdiction

STANDING COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL STATISTICS

There is a technical committee consisting of
experts called the Standing Committee on IndustrialStatistics (SCIS),reconstitutedin October 2006 under
the chairmanship of Prof B.N. Goldar to look into the technical issues and
aspects relating to industrial statistics. The broad terms of reference of SCIS
are:

a)Review the system existing in
India for collection, compilation, tabulation and dissemination of Industrial
Statistics in all its form and content with special reference to Annual Survey
of Industries

b)Review of Statutory support for
Industrial Statistics

c)Review the role of different
organization in Govt. set up on Industrial Statistics

The meetings of this committee are not open to the public.
However the agenda and the minutes of these meetings can be made available to
the public on demand.

LIASON WITH STATES

State level coordination committees (SLCCs) are
constituted in most of the States for periodical review of the progress of
ASIbesides resolving the
operational problems, with the Secretary, Dept. of Industry as the Chairman and
Labour Commissioner, CIF, Director of Industries etc., as members.

The ASI is conducted as a part of the non -
plan activity of NSSO (FOD) and no separate funds are allocated for the
purpose.